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The Maybeck Studio

The Maybeck Studio for the Performing Arts is a small performance space located in a private home in the Berkeley hills, built in 1914 by Bernard Maybeck. The studio has a rich tradition of musical performances dating back over 100 years.

The Studio hosts occasional public events. Subscribe to our mailing list to be invited.

Sunday, March 17, 2019

London-based cellist Tessa Seymour returns to her hometown of Berkeley to give a special recital of chamber music. Tessa’s program will include duo works with pianist Miles Graber, and a special guest appearance by guitarist JIJI, performing Brahms, Falla, and more.

Tessa made her televised Carnegie Hall debut in 2006 and has since been performing in Europe, Asia and the US, both as soloist and a chamber musician. Committed to a repertoire that cuts across genres and brings to life contemporary and established works alike, she has collaborated with and premiered the works of Matthias Pintscher, Krzysztof Penderecki, John Adams, David Ludwig, and Richard Danielpour.

Her performances have been heard on WHYY-TV, PBS, as well as NPR, WQXR, and WRTI radio, TEDTalks, VICE, and most recently appeared on BBC Radio 3 In Tune as a “BBC Introducing” artist.

The Wooden Fish Ensemble is known for its innovative juxtapositions of Eastern and Western musics, old and new, and traditional and avant-garde/experimental sounds. For this concert, they present a stimulating program of folk songs from Japan and Korea, music by Galina Ustvolskaya in honor of her centenary, and eight pieces by San Francisco’s own Hyo-shin Na–including three world premieres! Na’s music frequently combines western and Asian instruments and ways of playing, and is unusual in its refusal to compromise the integrity of differing sounds and ideas. Na prefers to let them interact, coexist and conflict in the music. Her music for traditional Korean instruments is recognized by both composers and performers in Korea, particularly by the younger generation, as being uniquely innovative.

Sunday, February 24, 2019

Jenny Maybee is a nationally-charting pianist, vocalist, and composer/arranger who “make(s) beautiful music expressing the sheer joy of being alive.” Her “eloquent and heart stopping” piano playing and vocals have been hailed as “expertly balanced,” with her voice described as “exquisite” and “in the same league” as Billie Holiday, and her piano stylings compared to Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea, McCoy Tyner, and Cecil Taylor.

Jenny’s playing has been featured on 9 albums, including the 2016 film soundtrack “Curious Worlds: The Art & Imagination of David Beck.” Also in 2016, Jenny released HAIKU (with Nick Phillips), which she co-produced and arranged. HAIKU was lauded in the press as "a thrilling, intimate, very delicate dialogue...close to perfection," and Jenny’s composition “Winter Butterflies” was selected as one of the Top 10 New Songs of 2016.

Jenny will be presenting new piano and vocal compositions inspired by her recent Creative Residency at Bloedel Reserve on Bainbridge Island, where she focused on composing for visual media and exploring the intersection between nature and creativity.

Sunday, February 17, 2019

Join us for an afternoon of inspired compositions and thoughtful improvisations from Berkeley-based pianist Nathan Bickart. Bickart will debut new compositions informed by the kaleidoscopic influences embedded in his musical and non-musical life. His compositions navigate the inner spaces between jazz, soul, gospel, and folk music; these diverse influences are expertly sown together to create a performance that is welcoming, joyful, and deeply felt.

Sunday, January 20, 2019

Redwood Tango Ensemble presents the music of tango legend Astor Piazzolla, as well as new works by contemporary tango composers Diego Schissi, Julian Peralta, Daniel Ruggiero, and original works from their recent album "Prizefighter".

Redwood Tango Ensemble is a leading North American sextet dedicated to contemporary tango music. Known for visceral and powerful stage performances and innovative original music, Redwood Tango Ensemble is a singular voice within the new generation of cutting edge tango composition and future-driven chamber music in North America.

Sunday, January 13, 2019

This solo piano set is entitled "Dark Humor" and explores the contrast between superficial and grim musical comedy. It features works by Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel, György Ligeti, Ann Cleare, J.S. Bach, and Salvatore Sciarrino.

Oakland-based pianist Anne Rainwater is a dexterous musician known for her vibrant interpretations of works from J.S. Bach to John Zorn. Recognized for her “boldly assertive rhetoric” (San Francisco Examiner) and “bright golden honeycomb for a brain” (Roy Doughty, poet), she appears as a soloist, chamber musician, and educator.

Sunday, January 6, 2019

The Bye Bye Bartok collective features a special and curious mix of musical personalities, some of which are most known for swinging straight-ahead lyricism, and others as free exploring alchemists. Their sound together is a unique balance of all the above, dynamically nuanced dialog set in a creative and swinging context.

Sunday, December 16, 2018

B3LLA is back to help celebrate all that happened in 2018 with you. The year's events and all of the emotions that went with it are timelessly captured in Beethoven's piano trios - tragedy, humor, melancholy and sheer joy. Experience them together with B3LLA in the intimate historic Maybeck this December.

Sunday, December 9, 2018

Hailing from varying backgrounds and 3 different continents, the female music trio "Mooncake" consists of Swedish-based saxophonist/flutist Biggi Vinkeloe, flutist/vocalist Emily Hay from Southern California and Japanese born pianist/sound artist Motoko Honda who now lives in Oakland. Hay and Honda have collaborated as a duo together since 2009 and the Mooncake trio developed when they invited Vinkeloe to join them for some concerts in San Francisco several years ago which led to new friendships and genre busting and unique musical explorations.

Sunday, December 2, 2018

"A hip, unstuffy, and malleable group of high-quality chamber musicians who are dedicated to fresh programming" raves the SF Classical Voice, "Ensemble San Francisco seems welcoming, warm, and well-positioned to expand not only its repertoire of high-quality performances, but also its circle of friendship."

Ensemble San Francisco was founded in early 2013 and draws its musicians from the SF Symphony, Ballet, and Opera orchestras and beyond.

In addition to its mainstage performances, ESF musicians generously donate their time to share their love of chamber music with children, youth, and elders through performances at schools, detention centers, hospitals, and nursing homes.

Sunday, October 28, 2018

Praised as a “[musically] eloquent” (San Francisco Classical Voice) player “with the kind of freedom, authority, and strength…that one expects from the world’s finest pianists” and a “bewitching musical presence” (The Piedmont Post), 21 year-old pianist and composer Audrey Vardanega was born and raised in Oakland, California and began her piano studies at the age of six with Araks Aghazarian. She began formal piano training with Robert Schwartz at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music from 2002 to 2013 as well as formal composition training with Arkadi Serper at the Berkeley Crowden School from 2004 to 2013. Her past instructors include Seymour Lipkin, Jeremy Siepmann, Christopher Elton and Victor Rosenbaum. She is currently pursuing her Masters of Music at Mannes The New School under the tutelage of Richard Goode. Vardanega earned her B.A. in Political Science from Columbia University. Along with five other internationally selected pianists, Vardanega participated in the Carnegie Hall Workshops with Jonathan Biss in February 2017, exploring late piano works by Brahms, Beethoven and Schubert. She participated as a fellow in the Ravinia Stean's Music Institute in the Summer 2017.

Saturday, October 27, 2018

Miro Sprague is a jazz pianist and composer based in Los Angeles and New York City. A graduate of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance, Miro was mentored by Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock and he has toured extensively throughout the U.S. and overseas.

Sunday, October 14, 2018

the pickPocket ensemble will be performing all original instrumental songs, inspired by folk and cafe music from around the world, including many brand new pieces.

From the street corner to the concert hall, the pickPocket ensemble have created a unique and original contemporary chamber cafe music. Based in Northern California, the ensemble has also toured internationally and has released several works of original music. Music of the ensemble has been featured in several films, and on NPR and public television.

Speak to audience members after a performance: one will have been to Bogota, one to Prague, one to Paris. Yet for all its wide-ranging inspirations, the pickPocket ensemble's music remains intensely personal and immediately engaging, an invitation to listen in on an intimate conversation.

Sunday, October 7, 2018

Retrospectacles is a double-CD retrospective of works for piano and interactive computer composed, programmed and performed by the Bay Area experimentalist composer Chris Brown. It showcases recordings made between the 1990's to 2016 of compositions that explore evolving paradigms of human-machine interaction through live signal processing, generative polyrhythmic textures, and a cohabitation of both formal control and indeterminacy. Three pieces from the release will be performed at this concert, including ‘Retrospectacles’ (2003) and the premiere of a new version of ‘Shuffle’ (2007). Retrospectacles is one of four premiere releases on fo’c’sle, a newly founded label for experimental music based in the Bay Area.

Curium: the 96th element in the periodic table. Discovered in the Bay Area in 1944 and named after the pioneering female scientist, Marie Curie, the element is a symbol of the innovations of female minds, past and present.

Founded in the summer of 2017, the women of Curium piano trio have gained reputations as performers that radiate dynamism and presence. Specializing in performing the music of female composers, they are committed to bringing creative and diverse musical programming to their audiences. The Curium trio highlights the works of women composers and performers alongside traditional piano trio repertoire, and have brought together a community of people with their representation of diversity and women.

Curium was chosen as the 2017 winners of the Barbara Fritz Chamber Music Award. In the summer of 2018, Curium was invited to participate in the St. Lawrence String Quartet Chamber Music Seminar. Curium is a fiscally sponsored affiliate of Intermusic SF.

Hailed as a “wonderful pianist” with “absolute devotion to the music” and “admirable technique” (Globes), pianist Shir Semmel has performed in Europe, the United States, and her native Israel to critical acclaim. Praised for her “unstoppable energy and personality” (timesunionPLUS), her performances have been described as “gripping from beginning to end” (The Jerusalem Post).

Sunday, September 16, 2018

Thomas Schultz has established an international reputation both as an interpreter of music from the classical tradition – particularly Bach, Beethoven, Schubert and Liszt – and as one of the leading exponents of the music of our time. Among his recent engagements are solo recitals in New York (a series of six recitals at Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall between 2004 and 2012, and recitals at the Goethe Institute and Bargemusic), San Francisco, Berlin, Paris, Ghent, Seoul, Busan, Taipei and Kyoto, and at the Schoenberg Festival in Vienna and the Piano Spheres series in Los Angeles. In 2005, 2010, 2014 and 2017 he gave masterclasses on the piano music of the Second Viennese School at the Schoenberg Center in Vienna.

Sunday, September 9, 2018

Come spin the wheel of fortune and see where it lands. Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757) wrote hundreds of keyboard sonatas, of which 555 survive. Katherine Heater, harpsichord, will be offering a selection of these sonatas from which the audience will create the program by chance.

Katherine Heater plays historical keyboards (harpsichord, organ, fortepiano) with many of the Bay Area's early music groups such as Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Voices of Music and Musica Pacifica. She has also performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Baroque Chamber Orchestra of Colorado, the Sun Valley Summer Symphony, and at festivals on Whidbey Island, Bloomington, Indiana and Miami. Ms. Heater teaches harpsichord at UC Berkeley and piano at the Crowden Music Center.

Igor Lipinski returns to the Maybeck by popular demand to perform music of two brilliant Polish composers, representing bookends of the 20th century. Szymanowski's poetic preludes contrast with Mykietyn's rhythmically driving Preludes, written in 1993.

Jiyang Chen offers an enchanting set of transcriptions and miniatures announced from the stage, celebrating the salon tradition of the 19th century. Jiyang's affinity for this repertoire is perfectly matched by his inimitable style and approach to these gems.